Cycling UK Forum

Looking to do 50-60 miles a day on relatively quiet roads with good scenery in May, not in any great hurry to take the most direct route.
NCN1 via Alness looks good on paper at first sight - any personal experience?

On our LEJOG we followed the section of NCN1 from Ardgay to Invershin (after coming over from Alness), crossing the railway bridge at Invershin.
In our opinion the crossing is dangerous for cyclists!
We had to unload our bikes, carry everything down a long metal staircase, load the bikes up again (to push them along the bridge) then at the other end repeat the process of unloading and loading to get down the next staircase!
At the bottom of the steps we rejoined the A836 (which we had left about a mile from Bonar Bridge)
If we had stayed on the A836 (and gone via Bonar Bridge) it would have been shorter and much quicker (and the road wasn’t that busy anyway).

Boring_Username wrote:NCN1 via Alness looks good on paper at first sight - any personal experience?

The route via Alness is good, there is a fairly stiff climb out of Dingwall, with a new cafe at the highest point, but motor traffic on the route should not be troublesome.

Lilyf wrote:On our LEJOG we followed the section of NCN1 from Ardgay to Invershin (after coming over from Alness), crossing the railway bridge at Invershin. In our opinion the crossing is dangerous for cyclists!

It is true what you say, the reason for the current NCN1 routing was to ease access to the nearby Carbisdale Castle when it was a youth hostel and popular overnight stop.The stairs were a convenient way of accessing the hostel without having to retrace part of the road journey. Also a safer route for hostellers who previously walked on the railway over the bridge in order to get to and from the pub.
The route via the bridge is perhaps more scenic and could be retained along with a health warning re the stairs, while the route via Bonar Bridge could be signed as an option.

I followed this route back in September although I did go via Bonar Bridge after reading about having to take the bike down quite a few steps. That particular section was quiet as far as traffic was concerned. Stopped over at a B&B/pub in Lairg almost everyone there was either doing JOGLE or LEJOG.

I would definitely recommend going via NCN1 - the scenery after Lairg up past Tongue was particularly good and the road was very quiet.

Lilyf wrote:On our LEJOG we followed the section of NCN1 from Ardgay to Invershin (after coming over from Alness), crossing the railway bridge at Invershin

One has to wonder why this addition wasn't made as a ramp from one side to the other as it would't have required much more metal (£).

Sutor Creek Cafe @ Cromarty does great pizza and you can wild camp down by the firth's mouth near where the ferry goes from. Good coffee from a little shed there. Public toilets a few mins away.

The north coast 500 has led to more vehicles so expect a train of *substitute a model of car* whizzing past every so often interspersed with campers and motorhomes.

Do Strathnaver instead.

Beautiful part of the world!

Agreed that crossing the railway bridge was pretty hairy and once I was across I wished I'd stayed on the 'main' road and crossed at Bonar Bridge.

If you're going in season and you like ferries taking the black isle route and getting the tiny Cromarty ferry is fun.

And another vote for strathnaver. When you get to Altnaharra hang a right on the north side of Loch Naver and follow the quiet and beautiful road to Bettyhill.

I've written about much of this on my 'All Points North' ride I did in 2017

http://www.richmay.co.uk/allpointsnorth/

Day 1 includes Inverness to Lairg and the second part of Day 3 includes the Strathnaver trail. Day 4 then describes the final section to JoG

(I wasn't doing LeJog btw. i started in Inverness [emoji3])

We joined the B873 (leaving the A836) after Altnahrra. It was, indeed, a beautiful quiet road running alongside Loch Naver, the River Naver and through Strathnaver. You rejoin the north coast road (A836) about 3 miles short of Bettyhill.

captain offensive wrote:.

I've written about much of this on my 'All Points North' ride I did in 2017

http://www.richmay.co.uk/allpointsnorth/

Day 1 includes Inverness to Lairg and the second part of Day 3 includes the Strathnaver trail. Day 4 then describes the final section to JoG

(I wasn't doing LeJog btw. i started in Inverness [emoji3])

A good read thank you.
Air conditioning vans would be fitting Air Source Heat Pumps
Fixings on cars... for fishing rods?

Paulatic wrote:A good read thank you.
Air conditioning vans would be fitting Air Source Heat Pumps
Fixings on cars... for fishing rods?

Thanks Paulatic. That would make sense for the Aircon, and yes to the fishing rods [emoji3]